Reserving space at SSB

My wife and I have been coming to CSS / SSB for five years. We love the SSB beach, especially out under the 'tiki umbrellas'. When we first came on our honeymoon we got to the beach around 10:00 am and usually found space on the beach. Each year we found we have to go earlier and earlier to get any 'tiki' space. Now when we go down there are towels on the lounge chairs with no other items. In some cases there is a hat or book but NO PEOPLE. So, we have to take lounge chairs back on the beach without 'sun guard' or under a tree. As we sit there we find people showing up later in the morning or, worse, in the afternoon. We were also told that if we give the life guard a few dollars he will put towels on a specific lounge area under the 'tiki'. We are told it is not permitted to 'tip' the staff and we don't want to challenge the rules set by management, but we also don't want to go down to the beach at 6:00 AM just to get a place we love. It seems to me the resort should ban the 'pre-reservations' at all. If you arrive at the beach and there are towels on a lounge chair but no one around, you should be able to sit and 'claim' the space. If they left a token item (hat/book) the 'guard' that makes sure you don't take pictures should be required to remove the items and hold them till the people return. Then let them take a lounge chair under a tree!!!!!

I totally agree with the no reserving of palapas and lounge chairs. We recently returned from SSB and there were 2 couples who reserved lounge chairs and huts very early in the morning with towels and books/shoes/blue beach bag. They then used other loungers during the whole day and rarely returned to the reserved ones under the shade. I guess they were saving them in the event of rain which never took place. Everyone on the beach was very frustrated with them, but no one did anything.

JJ,
Amen to that!!!
Not that we have ever found a problem with finding a spot to let the sand gravity take affect, as we really don't care as long as we have some sort of shade, but those who choose to take up loungers without actually being there should not expect to actually keep that spot unless they are there. We have never done this, nor ever will. Vacation for us is not having the best, in our minds, of everything. It's about relaxing and having fun. We understand that we are not the only ones there, and why would we "reserve" a spot for whenever we decide to show up???
So what if we don't have that special place that we like. Who cares. We are on a beach, in Jamaica, no work, no kids, no traffic, no stress. What more can we ask???
Let the lounge hogs reserve all they want... We will have a better time anyways because we are actually happy JUST to be there!!!

We'll be there in May. I won't be afraid to neatly fold towels and place them nicely on a lounge chair (in the sun) waiting for the owner if it's clear that said owner is not returning in a timely fashion.

I wonder if we started a petition on here and got everyone to sign up to say not being able to reserve a sunbed before say 10am whether the management would make it a rule (lets face it they have enough rules anyway!)

By making it around 10am, people who want to get their earlier can be sure of a bed but at the same time if those people wanted to pop somewhere for say snorkelling, skuba diving, go back to the room etc could do so after 10 knowing they had a bed to return to and at the same time those who want to come down later can turn up at 10 and reserve any beds that are still untaken.

I give the people the benefit of the doubt in case they ran back to the room or went for a bite to eat. If the chairs are empty after an hour I remove their belongings and neatly place them on another chair. Very rarely has anyone challanged my behavior.... perhaps its the fact that I am 6'2" and weigh 270 LOL. Really there is no reason to save chairs for an extended period of time.

JJ,
Amen to that!!!
Not that we have ever found a problem with finding a spot to let the sand gravity take affect, as we really don't care as long as we have some sort of shade, but those who choose to take up loungers without actually being there should not expect to actually keep that spot unless they are there. We have never done this, nor ever will. Vacation for us is not having the best, in our minds, of everything. It's about relaxing and having fun. We understand that we are not the only ones there, and why would we "reserve" a spot for whenever we decide to show up???
So what if we don't have that special place that we like. Who cares. We are on a beach, in Jamaica, no work, no kids, no traffic, no stress. What more can we ask???
Let the lounge hogs reserve all they want... We will have a better time anyways because we are actually happy JUST to be there!!!

Well said. On the morning of our departure, I came down to SSB at 5:00 AM to take a few last pictures on a empty beach. Not only did I see a few people staking claims to lounges but some were already marked with personal items, towels etc. well before security arrived. I don't know for sure if anyone pays guards to claim "their" spot, but doubt it. The argument that people have a right to claim a lounge early and occupy it much later so they can enjoy other resort activities strikes me a very selfish. I we go for a morning massage and show up at 10:00 Am - happy to take what's available as long as something is available. SSB is not very big, so being away from the pool is not socially limiting. We may sun on the beach and hang at the pool with friends, only then should there be an empty lounge. As SSB continues to get more popular the problem just gets worst.

I give the people the benefit of the doubt in case they ran back to the room or went for a bite to eat. If the chairs are empty after an hour I remove their belongings and neatly place them on another chair. Very rarely has anyone challanged my behavior.... perhaps its the fact that I am 6'2" and weigh 270 LOL. Really there is no reason to save chairs for an extended period of time.

Hey Woodbridgeata - would you mind coming on vacation with my husband and me? I'd love to be able to take someone's stuff off a chair and place it neatly on another chair without the fear of being challenged or, worse yet, physically attacked (which somebody actually implied that they would do when this subject came up on another thread on this board). Funny how the selfish people have a myriad number of reasons why it's OK for them to be selfish.

Many years ago on our first trip to css my wife and I were headed down to the main beach only to find every spot of shade taken and almost every taken chair empty!

After discussing it for a couple of minutes we decided we'd rather be nude than Sun burned!

Thus, the rest is history. ..

I say if someone is not back - IN or at least near their reserved chair in 60 minutes then expect your stuff to be moved.

I think 60 minutes is more than fair - that's plenty of time to go eat and return to your room for a while.

And I won't touch your stuff - I will just move your chaIr a few feet out of the shade and insert mine.

Not once has anyone come back and said "oh, you took our shade" - usually the people just came back, got their stuff and left!

Other times, they literally never came back in the several hours we were there!

And once, we met a nice couple who's excursion took way longer than expected - they didn't mind at all that we moved their stuff and they were happy that we just scooted it over instead of turning it in.

We happily made room for that couple and we all had a great time.

And to be clear - if you're at the pool or bar but you're stuff is on the beach - that's no problem - I'm just talking about folks who leave ssb for more than an hour...

Thanks everyone, I'm happy so many of you share our concerns. I'm a little disappointed there has been no 'official response' from management. It would be great to hear they are instructing the staff at SSB to 'advise' people that come, take space, then leave, that after an hour the space may be taken by another guest. The guests (us) should not be put in a position to have to deal with this. So many times my wife and I arrived around 10ish and there are no 'open chairs' and very few people. We have reservations this October and again next year...Yea!!!!

Hey Woodbridgeata - would you mind coming on vacation with my husband and me? I'd love to be able to take someone's stuff off a chair and place it neatly on another chair without the fear of being challenged or, worse yet, physically attacked (which somebody actually implied that they would do when this subject came up on another thread on this board). Funny how the selfish people have a myriad number of reasons why it's OK for them to be selfish.

It is hard for them to attack you when they never bother to come to the chair!

We'll be there October as well - 12th-19th so be assured there's at least one other couple that will not be reserving spots AND - we will give up our primo spot after a while to give others a chance to enjoy!

We'll also happily make room under our palapala or umbrella! Just ask

It's just common courtesy when primo spots are in short supply

If we all agreed to this, this issue would disappear from the board (not holding my breath)

Btw - I might come across as someone who wanders ssb looking for violaters - not the case at all and in the 25 days we've spent at ssb I can only recall this happening once - every other time we were able to find a spot - in the one case, we asked everyone around and no-one had seen that couple in 3+ hours! They never came back till the very end of the day - by then we had moved to the pool so there was no confrontation

The other times were on cruises which are notorious for this problem & it came down to there being no open spots anywhere at all (this is why we no longer cruise - just too many people in one place)

I doubt we'll have problems at ssb in October - especially with 3 New palapalas! - and especially if we can get more couples to agree not to reserve & share

We'll be there October as well - 12th-19th so be assured there's at least one other couple that will not be reserving spots AND - we will give up our primo spot after a while to give others a chance to enjoy!

We'll also happily make room under our palapala or umbrella! Just ask

It's just common courtesy when primo spots are in short supply

If we all agreed to this, this issue would disappear from the board (not holding my breath)

Btw - I might come across as someone who wanders ssb looking for violaters - not the case at all and in the 25 days we've spent at ssb I can only recall this happening once - every other time we were able to find a spot - in the one case, we asked everyone around and no-one had seen that couple in 3+ hours! They never came back till the very end of the day - by then we had moved to the pool so there was no confrontation

The other times were on cruises which are notorious for this problem & it came down to there being no open spots anywhere at all (this is why we no longer cruise - just too many people in one place)

I doubt we'll have problems at ssb in October - especially with 3 New palapalas! - and especially if we can get more couples to agree not to reserve & share

saving a seat

Originally Posted by jjprescott

My wife and I have been coming to CSS / SSB for five years. We love the SSB beach, especially out under the 'tiki umbrellas'. When we first came on our honeymoon we got to the beach around 10:00 am and usually found space on the beach. Each year we found we have to go earlier and earlier to get any 'tiki' space. Now when we go down there are towels on the lounge chairs with no other items. In some cases there is a hat or book but NO PEOPLE. So, we have to take lounge chairs back on the beach without 'sun guard' or under a tree. As we sit there we find people showing up later in the morning or, worse, in the afternoon. We were also told that if we give the life guard a few dollars he will put towels on a specific lounge area under the 'tiki'. We are told it is not permitted to 'tip' the staff and we don't want to challenge the rules set by management, but we also don't want to go down to the beach at 6:00 AM just to get a place we love. It seems to me the resort should ban the 'pre-reservations' at all. If you arrive at the beach and there are towels on a lounge chair but no one around, you should be able to sit and 'claim' the space. If they left a token item (hat/book) the 'guard' that makes sure you don't take pictures should be required to remove the items and hold them till the people return. Then let them take a lounge chair under a tree!!!!!

I'm a middle classed girl and save for a year to take this vacation....I'm sorry to say that a towel, shirt, cap will NOT keep me from claiming a chair that doesn't have a body in it. Everyone needs to stop, think and share.

We too would like an official response from the management team. It is frustrating to find that people reserve beds and shade then do not use them until much later in the day. On our last visit most loungers and were covered in towels when we arrived at the beach at 7.45 (we are early risers out of habit). We also saw couples reserving beds both by the pool and in the shade and sometimes not using them all day!
We all go for the SSB experience so perhaps its up to the people who use the beach to take action if the towel fairy has been around if Couples themselves won't set out a few simple guidelines

Last year when my wife and I were at a different AI, the chair game was in full swing. usually however I was able to find loungers somewhere but one time I could not and therefore I just found two that looked very un-inhabited and asked the nearest guests when was the last time they saw the owners of this stuff used to reserve the chairs? The guests told me they had been there for over 2 hours and had not seen hide nor hair of the owners. So I neatly folding everything up and carried it over to lost and found.

Approx. 3 hours later, I saw the beach bag I had brought to lost and found being carried by the owners who were now looking for available loungers for themselves. 5 hours! 5 Hours they were away. Ballsy!

Another resort I was at put little round stickers behind abandoned chairs and wrote the time the sticker was placed. If management came back after a set time, the towels were removed and the loungers made availble. There was signage everywhere warning people not to leave anything un-attended on the chairs as management may remove them. I liked that because it reduced the risk of confrontation between two guests.

I realize I am the exception here and normally don't get involved in conversations like this but with that said, here are my two cents. When on vacation it's time to relax and have fun! We all live in a world with deadlines and spend most days racing the clock. I will not do this on vacation! I would like to think that if I have been using my palapa all day and happen to leave to grab a drink, have something to eat, or cool off in the pool that I shouldn't have to be watching the time for fear that I have been away from my chair for more than an hour and therefor my stuff removed! Don't get me wrong, if someone has been gone for the majority of the day that is one thing but an hour here or there throughout the day, in my opinion, is just someone who is enjoying their vacation...and I think that is more than ok!

We will be there 9/26 - 9/30, first time for my wife going nekkid at a beach. I can tell you that the chair game drives me crazy, in Oct of 2012 at CSA there was a group who reserved chairs every day but wouldn't show up till after lunch. People started coming by asking about the chairs, our group of 6 just told everyone that inquired that the people left. Most called the staff over to take the towels and moved the chairs!

C'mon people...they just got done hashing this discussion on the main board. It's the same discussion that has gone on for years! There are plenty of loungers available and Couples will bring out more if they need to. You may not always get your preferred location but there is no shortage of places to lay in the sun or shade. Give it a break!